Newsday

23rd October 2018

ZIMBABWE’s squash sensation Ryan Gwidzima’s stint in the United Kingdom where he is studying on a scholarship could be cut short due to foreign currency constraints.

Gwidzima could be returning home in a fortnight if the trust that has been taking care of his tuition and upkeep fails to secure £4 500 that is needed for next term’s school fees at Wycliffe College, where he enrolled at two months ago.

Barely three months in England at one of the best squash schools in the world, the Bulawayo-born Gwidzima (12), faces a bleak future in Europe even though there was a lot of promise, especially after he became the 2018 Under-13 Hungarian Junior Open boys champion on Sunday.

Former Education and Sports minister David Coltart, who is a member of the Ryan Gwidzima Trust which facilitated the squash prodigy’s educational expedition to Britain, yesterday said they have the money deposited in the local banks, but they cannot get authority to make a pound sterling (GBP) transfer to Wycliffe College.

“We cannot get foreign currency to pay for his (Gwidzima) school fees for next term. We have not been able to get authority from the banks to pay Wycliffe. We have the money here, but the banks say they cannot pay in pound sterling. So, Ryan faces being denied entry for next term which I think begins in two weeks. Ryan has the potential to be a world champion. I am not saying we don’t have good coaches in the country, but we took him to Wycliffe, which is a school with some of the best coaches in the world,” Coltart said.

He added: “Here we have one boy who could be an ambassador for the country and we face the danger of him returning home. We simply cannot get that authority from the banking sector to transfer his school fees. Our failure to find sufficient money to pay his school fee shows we have warped priorities as a country.”

Recently, central bank governor John Mangudya announced his monetary policy, directing local financial institutions to separate nostro FCAs from Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) FCAs.

The Ryan Gwidzima Trust is chaired by Bulawayo lawyer Promise Ncube and also has Michael Harvey, Coltart and Trevor Williams as members.

Gwidzima won his first European title on Sunday at Griff Squash & Fitness Club in Budapest, Hungary beating Antoni Jakubiec of Poland 3-0 in the final of under-13 Hungarian Junior Open.

Before that, Gwidzima won the England Squash North West Junior Boys under-13 boys title, beating the tournament’s first seed, Bailey Malik 3-0 in the final.

Newsday

16th October 2018

ZIMBABWE’s young squash sensation Ryan Gwidzima was on a roll once again after he won the England Squash North West Junior Under-13 boys Championships at the National Squash Centre in Manchester, England, at the weekend.

Playing for his school, Wycliffe College, Gwidzima (12) beat the tournament’s first seed, England’s Bailey Malik 3-1 in the final on Sunday to clinch his first major title.

The tournament was his first major competition in England, the country he migrated to in August and where he is now studying.

Former England Squash Young Coach of the Year and Professional Squash Association World Tour player, Josh Taylor, who is also England Squash National Performance coach, confirmed Gwidzima’s victory, together with that of the girls category winner Charlie McCrone.

“Congratulations to Charlie McCrone and Ryan Gwidzima on being crowned Under-13 champions at the England Squash North West Junior Championships, Manchester,” Taylor said.

Last month, Gwidzima finished ninth in the Under-13 boys Karakal Welsh Junior Open tournament at Cardiff Squash and Rackets Club in Wales.

In Wales, Gwidzima lost 11-3, 11-2, 11-1 (3-0) to the eventual winner, Abdallah Eissa of England.

Gwidzima started playing squash at Suburbs Squash Club in Bulawayo, where he was coached by his father Langton.

He started representing Zimbabwe Junior Squash at eight years old when he played for the Under-13 team in South Africa, and he is currently the number one seed at Under-16 level.

Before he left for England, he was crowned the African Junior Open Under-15 champion in Cape Town last month.

In December last year, when he was just 11, Gwidzima capped a brilliant performance in the Under-13 age group, coming out position 17 in a draw of 124 players in the US Junior Championships.

The Ryan Gwidzima Trust facilitated his move to Wycliffe College, one of the best squash schools in England.

The trust is chaired by Bulawayo lawyer Promise Ncube and comprises former Education and Sports minister David Coltart, Michael Harvey and Trevor Williams.

263chat.com

16th October 2018

MDC deputy chairperson and Harare East legislator, Tendai Biti has described the ruling party Zanu PF as “clueless and incompetent” amid economic meltdown which has seen the government moving to institute the two percent electronic transactional tax among other new financial reforms aimed at breathing life to the ailing economy.

Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube and central bank boss, Dr John Mangudya early this month introduced a cocktail of financial reforms which the duo described as necessary to jump start the economy with President Emmerson Mnangagwa describing the measures as a necessary pain that Zimbabwe should adopt to bail itself out of the economic quagmire.

Analysts and economists who also double as politicians have challenged the reforms singling out the two percent tax on every electronic dollar transaction saying it is pegged high and has no legal ground.

Posting on his micro blog twitter, Biti said the country’s crisis is Zanu PF which he said is incompetent and clueless on how to resuscitate the economy.

“They now claim the black market is a security threat. On the contrary, the parallel exchange rate is just a symptom of the suffocating national melt down. The real cause of that crisis is Zanu, its incompetence, mismanagement, cluelessness and rigging. Zanu is the threat,” he posted.

The parallel market dropped dramatically last week leaving the illegal money changers at loss following the unexpected climb down of the USD which had risen to almost 500 percent selling at 1:6 with the bond note.

Biti warned in 2016 after the government moved to introduce the surrogate currency aimed at addressing cash shortages that have since worsened since then. He lamented the return of 2008 in a decade’s time describing the economic collapse as unbelievable.

“In 2007-2008 Zimbabwe witnessed the world’s worst post war economic meltdown. Its hard to believe that ten years later we are in the grippingthroes of a similar crisis. Are we cursed?”

The Former Finance Minister has been in arms with the government on various issues and has since dismissed minister Ncube’s two percent tax on electronic dollar transaction saying it lacks the legal ground, a battle that has seen other legal minds like renowned constitutional lawyer advocate Fadzayi Mahere and former education minister David Coltart joining forces.

Biti is currently representing Harare Residents Association director Mfundo Mlilo, who filed an application at the Harare High Court, seeking to repeal Ncube’s two percent tax gazetted in the SI 205 of 2018 arguing that it is not anchored on parliament approval.

Pindula News

4th October 2018

MDC politician and former Education Minister David Coltart has criticised the increase in the tax for money transfers saying the government wants to make the poor pay for its wastefulness in the use of resources. Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube on Monday increased the money transfer tax from 5 cents per a transaction to 2 percent of the transaction.

Coltart also said that the poor would be the ones who bear the brunt of any belt-tightening measures while the “obscenely wealthy ruling elite” would not be affected. Coltart called on the opposition to reorganise and regroup so that it will be in a position to lead the country. Writing on his Facebook page, Coltart said:

“Tendai Biti left a domestic debt of $200 million when he left office in 2013. This awful regime has raked up a debt of $5 billion in one year and some $10 billion in total since Biti left office.

Now it intends on taxing the poor to pay for its profligacy. It is also separating US$ accounts from whatever Micky Mouse money accounts it has concocted. You can rest assured that Ministers and other senior members of ZANUPF will have access to forex, whereas the vast majority will not. I am reliably informed that President Mnangagwa has just taken delivery of some 20 center pivots on his farm near Kwe Kwe. Center pivots cost around $50000 each so where did that $1 million in forex come from, when most Zimbabweans cannot even get forex to pay for foreign medical and educational bills?

One thing we know from 38 years of ZANU-PF misrule is that the belt-tightening will only be done by poor Zimbabweans, not the obscenely wealthy ruling elite.

Now more than ever is the time for the MDC to rebuild and consolidate so that we are in a position to take over government and rebuild our country at the earliest possible opportunity.”

Bulawayo News 24

3rd October 2018

Self imposed exile former Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo has leaped into MDC Alliance senior official David Coltart’s defence on accusations that he was a Selous Scout during the liberation war.
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“The claim that @DavidColtart was a Selous Scout is false. I started it as banter in 2001 & spread it by exaggerating David’s acknowledged service in the BSAP (British South Africa Police) in Rhodesia. The BSAP & Selous Scouts were not one & the same thing. David is my good friend!” Moyo tweeted.

The Insider

2nd October 2018

Former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo says he lied that former Education Minister David Coltart was a member of the notorious Selous Scouts, but it has taken him 17 years to set the record straight.

Moyo said Coltart was his friend but that was only after Coltart asked him to put the record straight now that they saw “eye to eye on political matters”.

“The claim that @DavidColtart was a Selous Scout is false,” Moyo responded on his twitter handle. “I started it as banter in 2001 & spread it by exaggerating David’s aknowledged service in the BSAP (British South Africa Police) in Rhodesia. The BSAP & Selous Scouts were not one & the same thing. David is my good friend!”

Selous Scouts were a notorious unit of the Rhodesian army which masqueraded as guerillas and killed either liberation fighters or civilians with the guerillas being blamed for the atrocities.

One of Moyo’s followers Nzou Nyaokorefu asked: “Do you know how many of us r crazy believers out there and will believe anything that we told without “Independent” verification? That’s the impact when you r a public figure Prof. Unless you telling me I need to verify everything you say.”

Moyo said: “You must indeed verify what public officials say. It’s a necessity. Just look at what happens in mature democracies such as the US, UK & India. Factchecking is a business. Nothing is taken at face value. Nothing. Trust but verify! Prof Jonathan Moyo added,

“Public discourse is based on facts & opinions. The former are subject to verification & the latter to scrutiny. Facts are out there in data bases & archives, don’t store them in your head. Opinions are it, hence they are protected in the Bill of Rights as freedom of expression!

“Lastly & as previously noted here, good propaganda is not about telling lies but about exaggerating the truth or a fact by tweaking its context & blowing the tweaked context out of proportion. In Rhodesia, Selous Scouts & BSAP were separate armed forces serving one racist master!”

Another follower wekwaMtyambizi said he was not surprised at all at the turn of events.

“Mgabe & @nelsonchamisa are now friends, @DavidColtart & @ProfJNMoyo are now teling us of their friendship, @KbhasikitiGmai1 is now mdc, grac mgabe is now ful of @edmnangagwa praise. Almst 12mnths since coup no1 has bin jailed 4 coruption. Makudo ndemamwe.”

The Chronicle

1st October 2018

ZAPU leader Dr Dumiso Dabengwa has revealed that he is the brains behind the original Public Order and Security Act (POSA) Bill but former President Mr Robert Mugabe refused to sign it because it was “too liberal.”

In an interview yesterday, Dr Dabengwa said the POSA Bill that eventually sailed through Parliament, was a “grossly edited version” of his brainchild.

POSA repealed the draconian and colonial-era Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA).

It was introduced in Zimbabwe in 2002 and amended in 2007.

Dr Dabengwa, who was then Home Affairs Minister, said he was the mover to replace LOMA and invited the Law Society of Zimbabwe and members of civil society to discuss POSA.

“Indeed, POSA is my baby because I had been tortured and imprisoned by the Rhodesian government under LOMA during the liberation struggle. It really pained me to see the same piece of legislation that was used to imprison us in the early 1960s still in place in Zimbabwe hence I made a move to have it completely repealed and replaced by POSA when I was Home Affairs Minister,” he said.

The former Zanu-PF Politburo member and Cabinet Minister said he consulted President Emmerson Mnangagwa who was then Justice Minister, legal experts and civil society.

“I did lots of consultations, first with (President) Emmerson Mnangagwa who was then Justice Minister and we agreed since he had also been imprisoned under LOMA. We went together and brought a number of legal experts among them the likes of Mr David Coltart and we also extensively consulted civil society and held meetings and discussed issues with people like Ms Priscilla Misihairabwi (Mushonga) who represented civil society,” he said.

“Finally when we agreed on the format that it was supposed to take, I had it drafted by the Parliamentary Legal Committee and it was then brought back to me so that I could be able to steer it through Parliament. It was not easy as there were a number of issues raised by people who opposed certain sections of the Bill, but I managed to get it through almost completely unamended.”

Dr Dabengwa said Mr Mugabe sat on the Bill, arguing that it was too liberal.

“The Bill went through all stages of Parliament and it was passed and went to the President’s Office for a signature but the President would not sign because he had a number of objections. He thought the Bill was too liberal but he didn’t even bother to find out or ask me why I decided to bring certain issues on the Bill.

“All he did was to sit on it and made sure it lapsed because after three months without the President assenting, a Bill automatically lapses and this was about the time we were getting towards the 2000 elections,” he said.

Dr Dabengwa said changes to the Bill were later made by his predecessor, the late Cde John Landa Nkomo.

“The same name was used and during John Nkomo’s time and a number of changes were made which completely diluted the Bill from what it was. There were some repressive sections in LOMA, which we had removed, and one of them is the issue of having to get permission from the police for meetings and that Bill said all that you needed to do was to inform the police of the meeting in case you encounter problems and it also placed the onus on the conveners to first inform police of a demonstration. In the event that any property was damaged, the leaders would then be solely responsible for repairing the damages thereof,” he said.

Dr Dabengwa claimed the current POSA signifies little improvement on LOMA.

“The Bill that I introduced was a liberal POSA which you will find in almost every democratic country and it is completely different from the POSA that we have now. When they came up with the new POSA Bill, I was very angry,” he said.

Opposition parties regard POSA as an Act that helped Mr Mugabe consolidate his power post-2000 during demonstrations and protests.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi recently announced that the Government is set to amend POSA, the Police Act as well as the Citizenship Act as part of an initiative to align legislation with the Constitution.

There has previously been resistance to amend some laws but this reluctance to comply with the Constitution is being addressed in the Second Republic. The Government under President Mnangagwa has since pledged to entrench civil liberties. Officially opening the 9th Parliament of Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa pronounced the legislative agenda which is guided by the need to align laws to the new constitution, to further democratise the nation and ensure that the country achieves its 2030 developmental vision. — @mashnets